Psychologist/ Psychosocial Consultant

Terms of Reference
Psychologist/ Psychosocial consultant

Job Title:Psychologist/ Psychosocial Consultant
Organization:War Child
Job Location:Occupied Palestinian Territory, Gaza Strip
Starting date + period:September, 2015, 4 months
Reporting:Program Development Manager (PDM)

About War Child
War Child  (WC) is an independent and impartial international non-governmental organization investing in a peaceful future for children and young people affected by armed conflict.  We strive to empower children and young people while enabling adults to bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of conflict affected children and young people.
WC believes that children and young people should play an active role in defining the future, not only for themselves but also for their communities. Children are creative and have the ability and skills to shape their lives and cope with adversity, even when they have experienced armed conflict.
Our current program works in partnerships with local organizations to safeguard children’s rights, focused primarily in the areas of protection, participation and advocacy.

Scope of Work

War Child (WC) is seeking Psychologist/ Psychosocial Consultant (PSS) on a temporary consultancy basis for 4 months with demonstrated skill, expertise, and experience in responding to the need of WC in identifying psychosocial priorities, respond to funding opportunities and conduct training and capacity building for WC partners. The psychosocial consultant will work closely with the program development management and WC team. The consultant will ensure responses are compliant with donor requirements, technically clear and accurate, and adhere to WC style.

General objective of the Job:

The PSS consultant is responsible for the development, coordination and mainstreaming of PSS methods and supports WC staff, partners staff, facilitators and volunteers with the knowledge and practical skills to carry out psychosocial support activities based on WC “Deals” methodology or other methodologies.  The consultant shall dedicate 40 working hours weekly to support the psychosocial program and staff in Gaza Strip during a period of 4 months, starting September 2015- December 2015. Upon satisfactory performance and quality of the products, and the needs, the contract can be extended to further period.

Result areas:

Developing PSS standards and tools

-Gather input for program development and monitoring, rolling out standards, methods and tools.

-Define shared PSS programming standards.

-Ensure that WC methods and standards for the implementation of PSS programs are developed/ revised and remain updated based on WC programming practice and international standards.

-Implement WC quality standards and PSS minimum standards.

-Stimulate and monitor PSS programming.

Developing and implementing training:

-Support the revision of the PSS methodology and the development of new methodologies as required by the Quality Department Manager.

-Plan, implement and evaluate training courses on WC PSS methodology, which involves creative tools such as games, songs, fine art, audio-visuals, group discussion, demonstrations, and practice sessions with feedback and role play.

-Ensure that all training requirements are met as outlined in WC training of trainers (ToT) guidelines.

Capacity Building:

-Design and provide briefings, TOT; and tailored trainings where needed for program staff, partners and volunteers.

-Provide ongoing support, guidance and advice to program staff in the field of PSS.

-Advise on PSS program and project proposals.

-Provide recommendations to the PDM when necessary on recruitment of potential facilitators and animators.

-Develop training reports and progress report per trainee.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

-Design and implement monitoring and evaluation tools in coordination with the PSS/ protection experts and provide the quality department with the necessary information to assess the program quality.

-Assist in analysing the data collected and reports both quantitatively and qualitatively.

-Ensure the use of WC M&E tools and formats

-Check, support and follow up on trainees’ comprehension and understanding of the training workshop by using observations and interviews to verify that learning objectives were met.

-Visit project site and provide information about progress when required.

-Evaluate and monitor progress of the trainees through assessing their skills and knowledge in implementing WC PSS methodology.

-Establish plans to support learning process and the retaining of trainees skills

Coordination and representation:

-Ensure use of uniform methods, tools and forms in activities, training and PME.

-Represent WC externally, in relevant platforms/ networks focused on PSS theme.

-Support the identification and packaging of PSS advocacy issues.

Knowledge and experience

-Relevant academic background in psychology.

-Specialist knowledge of current principles and practices of Child Protection with children in (post) conflict areas.

-Understanding of PSS (programming) in (post) conflict environment.

-Minimum 5 years (I) NGO work in developing countries/ conflict areas, preferable with children.

-Minimum 5 years in PSS programming in (post) conflict areas.

-Minimum 3 years in staff capacity building and experience in providing trainings.

-Demonstrated experience in monitoring and evaluation of the projects.

Skills and competencies

-Strong critical analysis and strategic thinking skills.

-Leadership and coordination ability.

-Proven ability to provide (creative/ interactive) trainings.

-Excellent communication skills; ability to give and receive feedback.

-Affinity with children and young people.

-Result – oriented

-Familiarity with creative methodologies.

-Positive, respectful attitude, and collaborative approach to diversity. Culturally sensitive.

-Fluency in English and Arabic.

-Work well in small team, flexible to take on new tasks, comfortable in a flexible working environment and able to work independently.

Interested candidates are invited to send their CV (including contact details of the last two references) and cover letter to

info.opt@warchild.nl

by 7 August 2015. Please write “Psychologist/ Psychosocial Consultant’ in the subject of the email. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. Commitment to the vision and goals of War Child including adherence to the Child Safety Policy is required.